THERE IS NO CLOUD: It’s just someone else’s computer (2016)

From last time:

> Sales copy for storj.io : a peer to peer encrypted file upload service. The linked video suggests they charge for time/space used of the network, with subsidies for those trading in hd space and bandwidth.

It being someone else's computer brings the not-always-obvious effect that costs are out of your control. A lot of startups get sticker shock when they first realize how much it costs to use a full-fledged cloud operation.

That's why a lot of businesses are going the "my own computer" (on-premises) route, but there are actually a ton of advantages to the "someone else's computer" (cloud) route.

Beyond the obvious (scale, speed, uptime, redundancy, features), you get increased collaboration, easier upgrading, and a lot less code to manage. My company, Usage.AI, uses Amazon's Reserved Instances marketplace to cut customers' AWS bills by up to 57%, without any lock-in.